Ask a business owner about their strategy and you’ll usually hear a number: “Grow revenue 10% in 2027.” Ask how, and you’ll get a list: Meta ads, LinkedIn ads, more posting.
That’s a goal and some tactics. The strategy is missing.
A useful way to see the gap is GOST: Goals, Objectives, Strategies, Tactics.
- Goal — where you want to end up. Grow the business in 2027.
- Objectives — the measurable targets that prove you got there. Eight new engagements with $5M–$10M owners.
- Strategy — the choices about where to focus, what to refuse, and why you believe it will work.
- Tactics — the specific actions that carry out those choices.
A plan puts the tactics on a calendar. That’s useful work, but it sits at the bottom of the ladder. When companies skip the third rung, the plan has nothing to stand on.
What the missing rung looks like
Here’s what that rung looks like in practice:
“Owners of $5M–$10M businesses don’t hire us because of an ad. They hire us because someone they trust recommends us. So we’ll focus on two paths. First, the advisors who already serve these owners: we’ll build 20 working relationships, which we expect to produce about three clients. Second, the owners themselves: we’ll educate them about one problem we solve better than anyone, aiming for five engagements. We won’t spend on marketing aimed at anyone outside those two groups, and we won’t start new product development until 2028.”
The paragraph starts with a belief you can test. It makes two choices and draws two hard lines. Now the tactics have a job, and the plan almost writes itself.
This is also why so many forecasts miss. If all you have is a goal and a to-do list, there’s no reasoning behind the number. When the year goes sideways, you can’t tell what broke. A strategy shows you which belief turned out to be wrong.
“A number with no reasoning behind it is a wish.”Terry Sullivan · Strategic Glue
Two quick tests
- If the opposite of your strategy sounds ridiculous (“we plan to shrink”), it isn’t a strategy.
- If your plan would look the same no matter which strategy you picked, you don’t have one yet.
Where value leaks
There’s a second cost to skipping strategy, and it shows up in what the business is worth. Without strategy, a plan funds everything a little: some ads, some posting, some sales effort, some new offer nobody asked for. Some of that builds value. Some of it quietly leaks value. Without strategy, you can’t tell which is which.
Strategy is how you find out. It shows where your marketing builds something lasting, like a clear position, a customer you understand, or a sales process that works without you in the room. It also shows where marketing just burns cash and attention. Then the plan can put more behind what’s working and stop feeding the leaks.